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[He's alive, absolutely. And wedged into a hollow of some trees - way out in the forested area. Way outside town. His omen is circling above, bright red against grey skies, and shouting, scolding, really.]

[Traces of fire, little embers in a small stump. And the lizard in question is wrapped in a cloak and blanket, a lump, covered in fallen branches, leaves. If it weren't for the dragon shrieking, he might actually be hidden.]

[ Moriko calls out to him as she dives down, directing his eyes to the huddled mass in the branches before she swoops over to land on his shoulder.

He lets out a sigh before going over, kneeling down and carefully brushing some of the leaves away. He's at least ready to jump back in case Melius reacts defensively, but he's not sure whether or not he's capable of it at the moment. ]

Idiot... What happened to you?

[Melius' omen scuttles up the nearest tree trunk, chattering. Well, she's just repeating the word: ahraan again and again. Clearly everyone will understand if she just keeps saying it.]

[The blanket bundle flinches. Trying to pull away, but he's wedged in the trees too much.]

G-Go away! I don't taste good!

[He yelps that. Really just yelps. Little crystals of ice forming along the blanket.]

[ Well look at that. Sasuke's at least used to seeing the elements used in forms of defense, but he still pulls his hands back in surprise. ]

I'm not going to eat you, moron. It's Sasuke.

[ Probably should have opened with that. ]

[Yeah, maybe!!]

Y-you could still! Still be! A monster!

[More frost, more ice. It's like a turtle shell forming.]

[ Of course he's fucking paranoid about that. He supposes it's a reasonable worry.

He sighs in frustration before going to warm a fireball in his hands to see if it will melt the damn ice. ]

I doubt your omen would've berated an actual monster into coming to find you. But all your shouting and bleeding could very well bring one around, so why don't you quit being stubborn and just let me see your wound.

[The omen chatters in response. Yes, you foolish Dragonborn - agreeing with Sasuke in angry squeaky Dragonspeech. There's a lengthy silence. Eventually, the ice stops forming.]

[And... an arm thrusts out from under the shelter. It's been bandaged around the bicep, but there's still a good bit of blood.]

[ Thank fucking God for these annoying as hell companions. Sasuke reaches out for his arm, taking a look at the bandage first. It needs to be changed no matter what, so he starts to carefully undo it to get a better look at the wound. ]

Why are you hiding out here instead of coming home?

M-monsters. I - I didn't - I didn't have. Weapons.

[He's still in his party outfit, too. But the sleeve is shredded. And there's a massive bite mark under the bandage. It looks like a shark just took a chunk of muscle out.]

[... he probably would have bled to death a long time ago, but, this is Melius. He had more healing potions on him than common sense. It isn't fully healed, but that's better than nothing.]

Just - just ran. And hid.

[ He wants to tell him he should've called him sooner, but he has no right to point fingers. Melius had done almost exactly what he would have had the positions been reversed. Sometimes it was just better to hide.

He looks over the bite mark, glad to see that at least it doesn't look infected. He digs into his bag to pull out fresh bandages, before carefully going to wrap it again. ]

Well I have plenty of weapons, so we're getting you back to the house. Sakura can heal this the rest of the way for you.

[Hide and encase yourself with ice? Yep, that's a great plan. But hey, at least no one would have found him if his omen hadn't intervened. Therefore, he was safe. Maybe.]

[Melius flinches again, like he's going to pull the arm back, but doesn't. He makes himself hold still.]

M-mine are. There too. At the house. My mace. I'm - I'm s-sorry.

You're fine. Rescue and escort missions were one of my main duties, once upon a time.

[ He finishes rebandaging the wound, going to stand up and offering him a hand. ]

You're safe now.

[Frankly, nowhere feels safe now. He'd very much like to go back to hiding in the woods and camping for the rest of his life. Away from people.]

[His Omen flutters onto his shoulder, snorting. And announcing, in what has to be a mimic of Sauske:] Idiot.

[He has a split second of what before crawling out of his hiding place.]

I um. I will. Wear my armor. More often.

[ He shouldn't laugh, but there's a small snort at the omen's echoing of his own choice of insult, the tiniest of smiles on his face. ]

A smart decision in this place.

[ Moriko goes to fly ahead of them while Sasuke stays close to Melius, making sure he's actually walking with him back towards town. ]

If you are stuck, you can always call me.

[He does hesitate a few moments, wrapping his arms around himself. He looks like he wants to bolt back into the leaves, honestly. But he follows.]

It... I didn't... know anything was wrong.

[How he didn't pick up on the NEON WARNING SIGNS is a mystery.] U-until it. Happened.

[ Give him a second while they walk. Just sort of letting himself quietly processing this. ]

You... didn't know anything was wrong... when there was a chunk missing from your arm?

[Blink. Processing.]

O-oh. No. No I - I knew that. But um. Before that.

[See? He's not a total disaster.]

[ Well that's a relief. He thinks to mention that he meant he could have called once he got, y'know, bitten, BUT THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT. ]

So what happened?

[That gets him to clamp his jaw shut. Hunch his shoulders. He doesn't want to say. He's already made himself more of a problem. He's already proved he can't be trusted...]

Sunvaar... sunvaar-jul.

[Boy is he glad Sasuke doesn't understand his omen.]

... it. It was a monster. [His good hand makes a motion to his omen.] "Sunvaar" is um. It means monster.

[ A monster. That's fairly typical in this place, but still it makes him stare at him. ]

And you didn't know that could end in trouble?

N-no! No! I... I um... he.

[He was flashing warning signs like a neon stripper pole.]

He looked... like my friend.

[ Melius. Buddy. Sasuke's forehead wrinkles. It's not like he hasn't seen transformations be used to trick people, but there's always something. ]

You didn't notice anything different about him?

[It's not physically possible for Melius to shrink in on himself any further, but he sure does try.]

No. No he... just seemed... friendlier but. But it was at the party. Everyone seemed friendlier.

Oh.

[ Sasuke doesn't bother trying to dissect that farther, because he's not wrong. Everyone was friendlier, himself included. He's pretty sure he ended up flirting with someone.

He wants to forget about that party a lot. ]

I suppose that would throw off one's usual perceptions for odd behavior.

[The party had been... mixed. Extremely mixed. Some good moments, some good times not feeling like an anxious wreck. And then?]

[Then his friend had gone Jaws on his arm.]

Y-yeah. Yeah, it um... did. I'm - I'm sorry.

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